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Title page for ETD etd-07022008-111345

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Paltzer, Daniel Minnekus

URN

etd-07022008-111345

Title

The empirical reality behind Hobbes's science of politics

Degree

Master of Arts

Department

Political Science

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name

Title

W. James Booth

Committee Chair

Joel F. Harrington

Committee Member

Keywords

Thomas Hobbes

political history

political philosophy

reason of state

Date of Defense

2008-04-25

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This thesis concerns the development of the concept of the unitary nation state and anarchic European political system in 16th and 17th century political theory, and will argue that Thomas Hobbes provided the paradigmatic theoretical vision which corresponds to this change in political organization. Most recent scholarship has approached Hobbes’s political work from the perspective of his overall attention to deductive science. However, all sciences ultimately rely on observations from the real world in order to produce beneficial results. This reliance on empirical examples still exists in Hobbes, and one of his main sources is history which he argues should teach general lessons. Therefore political histories, and political treatises focused on historical practice, played a larger role in Hobbes’s theory than is often acknowledged. This was particularly true in the area of how Hobbes thought his science could be applied.